Doubting Thomas

Last Sunday I was looking forward to the Resurrection instalment of the BBC Passion drama – and sadly it turned out to be the least well written part – rather wooden and unimaginative in it's portrayal of this most enticing part of the story (it had a definite feel of time and money running out on the production). Which is a shame. Indeed a 'what happened next' drama would be a great prospect – as long as the drama is concentrated on character development. The best bits of the Passion were the insights into the characters.... ie, the moments when we glimpsed the real relationships between the disciples.... I was drawn into their conversations about commitment to Jesus. They certainly must have felt very alone-together as they faced up to continuing Jesus' work. One of the first songs I ever wrote was a setting of words we heard today:

Psalm 16
16:2 I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you."
16:3 As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight.

A big part of my own journey into faith was about my need for relatedness with others with whom a felt an empathy in my rather fearful and tentative instinct to be a disciple of Christ. And for all they had been through, these original disciples were understandably fearful and tentative. Perhaps Thomas was so fearful, he'd been lying low somewhere and had missed Jesus' resurrected commissioning of the disciples as we have it here. Thomas – the patron saint of doubters. Perhaps he needed to consult his twin.

Perhaps Thomas made a mistake when he withdrew from the fellowship. He sought loneliness rather than togetherness. And because he was not there with his colleagues, he missed the first appearance of the risen Jesus. We miss a great deal when we separate ourselves from the faith community, and when we try to be alone. Things can happen to us within the fellowship of Christ's Church which will not happen to us when we are alone.

I met an old friend recently, who, like so many old friends has found the church unbearably restrictive in its dogged systemising of faith – and so has drifted from the Christian community. We were discussing inspirational books – and I, rather uncharacteristically, was able to think of one to share - .... and this friend emailed and said 'what else can I read..... I feel I'm in a spiritual desert of my own making'. I thought this a great shame – though I understand the process. Churches are often frustrating and problematic – they must be, they're made up of people.... but we miss out so much if we separate ourselves from the faith commmunity - things can happen to us within the fellowship of Christ's Church which will not happen to us when we are alone. When I was reading for my studies about how the New Testament characterises the assembly or the community of Christ as the place of sacredness (as opposed to a physical notion of sacred place – ie a temple, or church), I was intrigued by one writer – Tom Driver, in a book called The Magic of Ritual,  argues that it is in and through  the fellowship of Christ's community that God is present:  

“Jesus' saying that the second of the commandments is like the first, equating love of God with love of neighbour, suggests that in a Christian sacrament the way of God's becoming present to us, and allowing God to be present in return, is for one human being to become radically present to another. The mysterious one who is sacramentally present in worship is not one but two – both the neighbour and God. The experience of such mutual presence is the experience of blessed freedom, a spirit radically opposed to the authoritarianism of the principalities and powers that rule the world in the present age.”

When sorrow comes to us, and when sadness envelops us, we often tend to shut ourselves up and to refuse to meet people. That is the very time when, in spite of our sorrow, we should seek the fellowship of Christ's people, for it is there that we are likeliest of all to meet Him face to face.

But Thomas had two great virtues. Thomas absolutely refused to say that he believed when he did not believe. Thomas would never say that he understood what he did not understand, or that he believed what he did not believe. There is an uncompromising honesty about Thomas. Thomas would never still his doubts by pretending that they did not exist. Thomas was not the kind of man who would rattle off a creed without understanding what it was all about. Thomas had to be sure—and Thomas was quite right.

WE  do not know for sure what happened to Thomas in the after days; but there is an apocryphal book called The Acts of Thomas which purports to give his history. the apocryphal book is historically dated around end of first century soon after the martyrdom of St. Thomas. There are several ancients texts in existence in various languages such as Syriac, Greek, Latin, Armenian and Ethiopic. The original manuscripts are found in the British Museum

This book gives a detailed account of Apostle Thomas’ labours in nine parts. The gist of the book is as follows:

After the ascension of Jesus Christ, the Apostles met in Jerusalem and portioned all the countries of the world among themselves. India which at that time included all Middle East to the present India fell to the lot of St. Thomas. This much is certain that the Thomist Church in South India does trace its origin to Thomas. At first Thomas refused to go. He said that he was not strong enough for the long journey. He said: " I am an Hebrew man; how can I go amongst the Indians and preach the truth? " Jesus appeared to him by night and said: " Fear not, Thomas, go to India and preach the word there, for my grace is with you." But Thomas still stubbornly refused. " Where you would send me, send me," he said, " but elsewhere, for unto the Indians I will not go."

 

Now it so happened that there had come a certain merchant from India to Jerusalem called Abbanes. He had been sent by King Gundaphorus to find a skilled carpenter and to bring him back to India, and Thomas was a carpenter. Jesus came up to Abbanes in the market place and said to him: " Are you wanting to buy a carpenter? " Abbanes said: " Yes." Jesus said: " I have a slave that is a carpenter, and I desire to sell him," and he pointed at Thomas in the distance. So they agreed on a price and Thomas was sold, and the agreement ran: " I, Jesus, the son of Joseph the carpenter, acknowledge that I have sold my slave, Thomas by name, to you Abbanes, a merchant of Gundaphorus, king of the Indians." When the deed was drawn up Jesus found Thomas and took him to Abbanes. Abbanes said: " Is this your master? " Thomas said: " Indeed he is." Abbanes said: " I have bought you from him." And Thomas said nothing. But in the morning Thomas rose early and prayed, and after his prayer he said to Jesus: " I will go where you will Lord Jesus; your will be done." It is the same old Thomas, slow to be sure, slow to surrender; but once his surrender is made, it is complete.

 

The story goes on to tell how Gundaphorus commanded Thomas to build a palace, and Thomas said that he was well able to do so. The king gave Thomas money in plenty to buy materials and to hire workmen, but Thomas gave it all away to the poor. Always he told the king that the palace was rising steadily. The king was suspicious. In the end he sent for Thomas: " Have you built me the palace? " he demanded. Thomas answered: "Yes." "When, then, shall we go and see it? " asked the king. Thomas answered: " You can not see it now, but when you depart this life, then you shall see it." At first the king was very angry and Thomas was in danger of his life and put in prison. However that night the King’s brother Gad died and in paradise, he was told the beautiful palace beside the river in the heavens was his brothers. He came back from the dead and told the story to the King. They were later converted to the Christian way.

 

This King was a mystery figure until recently. No one knew of a King by that name or a Kingdom corresponding to the description given in the tradition. However excavations in both east and west of Indus has unearthed coins and inscriptions which made it clear that Gundaphorus was indeed a historical figure and that he belonged to the Parthian Dynasty. Further evidence indicates that this King had a brother named Gad.

 

St. Thomas evangelized various parts of India and finally arrived in Madras where he was martyred by a tribal chief. His tomb can still be seen in Mylapore.

There is something very lovable and very admirable about Thomas. Faith was never an easy thing for Thomas: obedience never came readily to him. Thomas was the man who had to be sure. Thomas was the man who had to count the cost. But once he was sure, and once he had counted the cost, Thomas was the man who went to the ultimate limit of faith and of obedience.

Our meditation today might be on what it has taken for us to believe – we who are blessed because we have not seen, but yet believe.  Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
20:29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."  What it has taken for us to believe? For me, it was the love of the saints. 'If people love each other like this', I thought, 'then I believe'. And that was Jesus' prediction – if you love one another.....then people will know that you are my disciples. May this be true of us, this Eastertide.